Dispute Ends With North Texas Hotel Paying Employees $102K

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RICHARDSON (CBSDFW.COM) – More than 100 employees at the DoubleTree Hotel in Richardson will be receiving back wages as a result of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Federal officials found that the hotel had violated parts of the Fair Labor Standards Act concerning minimum wage, overtime and record-keeping. All of the violations involved low-wage employees including dishwashers, bartenders, wait staff, bellmen, housekeepers and maintenance workers.

The employees were often not paid for work they were asked to perform before or after their regularly scheduled shift began or ended. Investigators also found that workers paychecks reflected that lunch breaks were taken, with no regard to if they actually were.

In a press release statement Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division regional administrator Cynthia Watson said, “People often stay at hotels like the DoubleTree to enjoy great cuisine, hospitality and luxury services, and yet we find that many low-wage workers employed in such hotels are exposed to unjust treatment and wage violations. In this case, we found employees working an average of 86 hours a week without any overtime pay and sometimes receiving far less than the federal minimum wage.”

The Richardson DoubleTree, a franchise establishment of Hilton Hotels Corp., has agreed to pay $102,592 in back wages to 112 hotel employees and maintain accurate wage and hours records in the future.